How to use Netgear wireless router behind NVG510 (Cascaded) [ Edited ]

[pretzelbag]

I am a new Uverse internet-only customer.  I had AT&T DSL a few years ago (2Wire 2701HG), and was with another DSL provider until now (using the 2701HG in bridge mode).

AT&T shipped me a Motorola NVG510 last week which promptly broke (all red lights blinking at once = POST error); the mfg date on that one was Sept 2011.  The NVG510 that I received yesterday is working OK (mfg 3/1/2012) but based on the comments here there's a decent chance this thing will break at some point in the future.  Its firmware version is 9.0.6h0d48; it appears to be a later model because the NVG510 manual that I found on this site has different (fewer) features.

 AT&T support (when I called to replace the first NVG510) said the 2701HG can't be used with U-Verse, unfortunately.

Anyway, in my prior non-AT&T DSL configuration, I had a Netgear WNR3500L router doing all the heavy lifting with the 2701HG in bridge mode.  Since the 3500L has many more features than the NVG510 (guest network, USB connector, content filtering, IP address reservation, etc.), I would like to use that instead of the Motorola to be the DHCP server and control point.

I know the NVG510 can't be explicitly put into bridge mode, but there's a "Cascaded Router" section on the NVG510 "Subnets & DHCP" setup page that makes me think something close to what I want is possible.

The NVG510 is 192.168.1.254.  The 3500L was 192.168.1.1 in the old configuration.  My device IPs are/were 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.15 or so.  I'd like to keep those IP addresses if possible.

The "Subnets & DHCP" screen is below.

Can anyone suggest what settings I should use on the NVG510 and the 3500L to make this work?  I can't seem to specify any settings for "Cascaded Router Network Address" that the NVG510 will accept.

-pretzelbag.

**Edit** I think the manufacturing date is D/M/Y so it appears my NVG510 may have been made on Jan 3, 2012.

[hpmsrm]

I probably shouldn't try to contribute here but being ignorant has never stopped me before.

You did not state what you are trying to do.....that is.....why making everything so complicated.  I'm not familiar with the RG you are using but we have the 3801.  Setting up a Netgear N600 dual band wireless router with it was so simple I could not believe it.  I simply turned off the wireless function in the RG......then connected the new router to one of the Ethernet ports on the RG.  My desktop PC is now connected to one of the Ethernet ports on the new router and our two wireless laptops, two iPads and my wife's iPhone are all operating wirelessly on our home net.  The three PC's can all see each other.  My main 1 TB backup HDD is connected to the USB port on the Netgear router and is always available for access by any of the PC's.   Set up was literally automatic.  IP addresses were of no concern to me and were handled automatically during the setup procedure.

Now, if your needs involve more than just the usual home network, I'm not your guy.  But perhaps one of our more technically savey members can help you.  I guess I'm suggesting that you may be worrying about things you don't have to. (not being critical)

As an aside I should mention that I've also added a Netgear dual band range extender because our home is long enough - east to west - that signal strength was insufficient at the other end...away from the router.  Set up of that range extender was, if possible, even simpler than that of the original router.

[tcuyemura]

I agree with the previous reply, just keep things simple.  If the above doesn't work for you, you can try using  IP PASSTHROUGH  in the Firewall tab. You  should probally use a different IP scheme ( like 10.0.0.x instead of 192.168.1.x) and a different subnet. But that is just for efficiency purposes.

My setup is using a Belkin F7D4302 router attached to port one of the NVG510. For convenience, I setup the belkin to a static  ip address as to not keep changing the Motorola settings. My Motorola is set for "Default Server" for the Allocation mode and I put the IP Address of the secondary router ( as the Motorola see it ).

As a side note , the subnets & DHCP are usually used in the case were ATT is allocating multiple IP address and your network wants to split them up.

Anyway, the IP passthough should suffice for your needs as they did mine. 

Good Luck!

[calbreezy82]

You should put your netgear in the DMZ of the NVG510 and call it a day.   just give the netgear a static ip from the LAN of the NVG510 and then put that ip in the dmz of the NVG  and you are done.     no more fiddling.     the netgear has it's own firewall, so you aren't at risk, any moreso than if you had a bridged modem and your router.  

There is, however, a great little write up with proper configurations and can be found at http://www.ron-berman.com/2011/11/24/motorola-nvg510-help-page-for-att-u-verse-users/

[dtiernan]

I am trying use a wireless bridge at my house, too. (If I understand, correctly) its a little involved when its wireless. I have an older Netgear and have spent about half an hour on it. I'm going off to avoid frustration. But, I need the wireless connection, because the ATT router is in the living room and the computer is in the office. I do not connect any computers on wifi, just my phone. But, its a bit of a challenge. The Netgear site, says they make no guarantees unless you have netgear pieces on both ends of the ordeal.

I think I've read up on this from you folks. My problem, so far, is logging into the ATT equipment. The IP address it appears to have does not respond to my browser.....

[Eldrod]

I was wondering if this was answered. I read through the responses, but didn't get a clear answer that sounded like what I need to do. I just switched from ATT DSL with a Motorola 2210 front ending a NetGear N600 router to the U-Verse NVG510. The 2210 was on the 192.168.1.x subnet with the NetGear on a 192.168.2.1 subnet. I'm able to run the routers successfully with the NVG510 factory settings, which allows my devices to connect to either wireless router. But when on the NVG510 subnet, I can't see or access any of my networked printers which are on the NetGear subnet. I have played around with the passthrough and got the Cascaded router setting to configure, but still could not get the NG to connect.Also, when connected to the NVG510 router (192.168.1.254), I can't see any of my printers that are connected to the 192.168.2.x subnet. Does anyone know how to get these playing together? I like the idea I have 2 wireless nodes as the NetGear wireless gets flaky sometimes so the the NVG510 is a good alternative. However, I don't want to move and readdress all my other devices to move them from the NG to the new router. Can I have it both ways?

[zswman]

Hi - can you tell me what settings you used to configure the 'cascaded router?'  I can not get the NVG510 to accept anything, if I had a model of what worked I can probably translate to the addresses and IP passthrough I am using.  Sorry I can't help you w/ your problem though.  Thanks.

[Eldrod]

I got it configured for cascade, but I can't tell that it really did anything for me.  After hours of messing around with it, I finally just turned off the NVG510 Wireless and cascading and have all my wireless devices connect through the Netgear like they were doing before. So basically, I just turned the NVG510 into a dumb modem.  By connecting the Netgear's internet port to one of the NVG510's ethernet ports, it passes through just fine with no other changes.  But to get cascade to configure, here's what I did.

1. First, NetGear has address of 192.168.2.1.

1. Set the Netgear router to static IP address 192.168.1.5 (open addresss on the NVG510's subnet), subnte mask 255.255.255.255, gateway = 192.168.1.254 (NVG510's address)

2. Set Netgear's DNS to Static = 192.168.1.254

3. On NVG510, set the casecade on, set the Cascaded Router Address to 192.168.1.5 (Static IP address on Netgear)

4. Set the NVG510 Network address to 192.168.2.1

5. Set Subnet to 255.255.255.255 (I think)

The NVG510 accepted the changes, but I could never see that it made anything work. except that the laptop I hardwired to the Netgear router logged into the NVG510 subnet as if it was plugged into the NVG510's ethernet ports.  But that wasn't what I was trying to accomplich so I reverted back to factory.

Hope that helps.

[savagemyth]

1. First, NetGear has address of 192.168.2.1.

1. Set the Netgear router to static IP address 192.168.1.5 (open addresss on the NVG510's subnet), subnte mask 255.255.255.255, gateway = 192.168.1.254 (NVG510's address)

2. Set Netgear's DNS to Static = 192.168.1.254

3. On NVG510, set the casecade on, set the Cascaded Router Address to 192.168.1.5 (Static IP address on Netgear)

4. Set the NVG510 Network address to 192.168.2.1

5. Set Subnet to 255.255.255.255 (I think)

Thank you for this, my netgear's Voice/simcard phone lines started working when I did this and the blue light came on. One problem is that the NVG510 kept giving errors when trying to use 255.255.255.0 so the downstream Linksys device would be visible on the upstream network. But i'm not complaining as I put all the important stuff on the NVG510 and have only our home phone and slower 802.1 b/g devices on the Linksys.